Distribution of HLA A, B and C antigens in an Australian population

HLA A and B antigens have been determined in 2740 adult responders to a population health survey in Busselton, Western Australia. HLA A, B and C antigens have been determined in 481 schoolchildren. The antigen frequencies are generally close to those obtained elsewhere for subjects of British origin, but there are some differences from the frequencies found in North American Caucasians. The frequencies were not affected by the inclusion of genetically related individuals in the sample. Seventeen HLA A-B haplotypes, six A-C haplotypes and six B-C haplotypes had frequencies above 1%. A total of 1071 distinct phenotypes were identified out of the 5069 which are theoretically possible for the HLA A-B model used in the study. The most frequent phenotype was A2, B12 which occurred in 2.5% of the sample.